I did the “Curl Keeper Challenge”- check out my curls!

Thanks to Tryazon, the great sampling program I belong to that enables me to try and review excellent products (and you should join, too! Go to www.tryazon.com to sign up), I recently had the opportunity to take part in the 3-day #CurlKeeperChallenge using two Curl Keeper Products: The Original Curl Keeper Liquid Styler, and their new Refresh with Hold Styling Spray, and host a Facebook Live Party to show off my results! I was sent Curl Keeper's “Style & Refresh” Kit, which includes the Original Liquid Styler, Refresh with Hold Styling Spray, a water mist spray bottle, a Flexy Brush, and samples of the Original Liquid Styler for my Party attendees!

I started the Curl Keeper Challenge by washing my hair on Friday as I usually do, and then combing the Original Liquid Styler thru my hair using the Flexy Brush. Then I “scrunched” my hair into curls, and styled it as usual, which, for me, meant simply “plopping” it in a Turbi Twist and sleeping on it! And yes, I woke up the next morning to curls!

For the next three days, all I did was spray my hair with water and Refresh Spray, comb it thru with the Flexy Brush, and scrunch it back into curls... and yes, as you can see from the photos below of my Facebook Live Party on Sunday, my curls lasted for 3 days, without my having to shampoo again!

The water and Refresh sprays reactivate the Curl Keeper Liquid Styler, and enable you to keep those curls going without having your hair turn into a mass of unruly frizz!

I have always been a pretty “low maintenance” gal with regards to hair styling: Even in my “heyday”, when I had an art gallery in NYC in the mid-1990s, and had to be pretty darn chic every single day, I had my curly hair cut short and chic so I could literally wake up, shake my head, and dash out the door! And although I have Lots of hair styling tools, including blow-dryers, a curling iron, a flat iron, and a straightening brush, I almost never use them... because 1) I am lazy as sin, and 2) I stink at using them. LOL I have friends who have been blow-drying their hair since 1975 and can do it in their sleep, but I stank at it in 1975 and I still stink at it. LOL I am convinced that you have to be double-jointed to be able to properly blow-dry or iron the hair at the back of your head. LOL When I go to a salon I always ask for a cut that can be worn curly AND straight, and I always have them blow and iron my hair into glass-like smoothness, as I know I will almost never do that at home. LOL

How I got my Naturally Curly Hair is another Story... I was not born with curly hair. My hair was always straight as a board and fine, and wouldn't even hold a curl set with rollers and Dippity-Do. So when I hit my teens in the 1970s, I did what my mom had been doing since she was a child in the 1920s and Shirley Temple's curls were all the rage: I got it permed. If you are my age (61) you will well-recall that Big Curly Hair was very “in” ca. 1975: everyone from Disco Queen Donna Summer to Barbra Streisand had Big Curly Hair- and so did I! 

And then when I was 29, in 1988, I got really sick with Pancreatitis and almost died... and lost my hair. All of it. I had no hair, no eyelashes, no eyebrows, nothing- for 6 truly ghastly months. For 6 months I wore a wig and penciled in my eyebrows and prayed my hair would grow back... And when it grew back- which, thank G-d, it did- it grew in CURLY! I was over the moon! I felt like the little girl in the Peanuts cartoon boasting about her Naturally Curly Hair! I didn't have to ever even Think about getting a perm again! I called this “G-d's Thank You Present” for my having survived that mess...

And I loved my curls... most of the time. 

For, as all curlies know, curly hair has a Mind of Its Own, and is not always the easiest thing to live with and deal with. The slightest hint of dampness made it frizz to the point where I looked like I'd stuck my finger in a light socket. If it got even a little bit too long it went flat and limp, and wouldn't curl properly. And it changed back and forth from Wavy to Curly to Something In-Between to Totally Out Of Control... So, for the most part, for the next 20 years, I kept it fairly short, and easy-to-manage curly. 

But, as you know, you always want what you don't have, and so, when I let it grow out a bit, I often got it blown and ironed into silky-straight, glass-like smoothness- which lasted for a day or two at most, and for a minute or two if it was damp outside, or- heaven forbid- raining. 

When my husband met me in NYC in 2001 I was a Seriously High Maintenance Double-Process Blonde, which I often wore in a salon-done, blow-dried bob... But when we moved to West Virginia in 2002 and opened our Inn, Low Maintenance Hair became a necessity. The nearest good salon to us was over an hour away, and I almost never got there... and, as I have stated, I am definitely no hairstylist. But I had to look good for our guests! So I went back to my Naturally Curly (usually short) Hair- and my natural Mousy Brown color... periodically augmented with highlights or lowlights... and remained forever on the internet lookout for the Holy Grail Product(s) that would enable me to keep the ringlet curls I love, and stop them from turning into a mass of OOC frizz.

I have thus tried LOTS of curl styling products over the years, and my bathroom looks like a Sephora Outlet, LOL. I have also had several very expensive “curl cuts” at various salons, but wasn't particularly impressed by any of them. I had used Curl Keeper Original Liquid Styler, and Tweak, their cream hairspray, and I liked them, which is why I applied to do this "Curl Keeper Challenge"- I had never tried their “Refresh with Hold” Spray, and I wanted to see if these two products, used together, would be my “Holy Grail” hair duo for lasting curls- and it actually is!

I no longer have to use tons of hairspray to lacquer my curls into permanency in between shampoos!

The Facebook Live Party was a lot of fun to do, as I got to "see" some of my Curl Friends who I haven't seen in person in years!

I got to demonstrate the products and how I use them, we shared "curly hair horror stories", LOL, and then I sent off samples of Curl Keeper Original Liquid Styler to them so they can try it! 

You can watch it here:

https://www.facebook.com/ElkhornInn/posts/10158731937889730

I ordered the Curl Keeper Treatment Shampoo, as it has "ColorKeeper Technology" and is safe for colored and chemically treated hair, and it strengthens hair, and I want to use it in conjunction with the Liquid Styler and Refresh Spray, as I continue on my "Learning to Love My Curls" journey!

Curly Hair Solutions has a lot of great products, both for adults and kids, which you can check out here: www.frizzoff.com 

Have you tried Curl Keeper products? What are your faves? 

Do you have any styling tips for curly hair?

Any hilarious horror stories?

Tell me in the comments!

#CurlKeeperChallenge #tryazon #curlkeeper